CHAPTER II

THE OTTER'S HAUNTS AND HABITS

As mentioned in the previous chapter, otter cubs may be born in any month of the year. Prior to laying down her young, the bitch otter selects a couch in the vicinity of good feeding ground. Her choice of a retreat will vary with the locality in which she happens to be at the time. In the low country her cubs may be laid down in a dry drain in the meadows, where frogs are plentiful, and the ditches contain a supply of eels, or amongst the brushwood in some large covert, where the ground is swampy, and through which one or two small runners meander on their way to join the parent stream. In the north, where the rivers are swift and rocky, the cubs may first see the light of day in some cairn or pile of boulders, situated high up near the source of the stream, or in some rocky earth adjacent to a mountain tarn. On the grouse moor they may be found in some sod drain or other hiding-place amongst the peat and heather, near a pool or pools containing fish, and frequented by wildfowl as well as frogs and such small deer.

Quite small cubs are often found in holts in the bank of a main river, but it is pretty safe to say that the majority of bitch otters move up-stream, either to the head-waters, or up some side-runner prior to laying down their cubs. The latter have on various occasions been discovered actually beneath, or in close proximity to human habitations.

In the _Field_ of October 29th, 1921, there is an interesting description of such an occurrence, which we take the liberty of quoting. It says: "An odd experience is recorded to have happened in the year 1790 to Mr William Bethel, the then owner of Watton, and a guest. He and a clergyman were sitting quietly at dinner, when they were surprised by an extraordinary noise beneath the dining-table for which they could not account, and at length they were so much annoyed by it that they sent for a workman to take up the floor, when to their great astonishment they found that an otter which had inhabited the moat had established her nest beneath the boards of the floor, and had there deposited her litter of young ones, by whose uncouth cries it was that the dinner-party had been disturbed."

In _The Gamekeeper_ for May, 1914, there is another interesting account of a somewhat similar nature. It says: "On March 13th last, Mr Colwill, a tenant on the Trebartha Estate, Cornwall, lost a lamb, and there being a mouth of a large drain in the field, thought perhaps there might be a chance of the lamb having gone up the drain. Getting a long stick he put it up the drain, and feeling something move he thought it must be the lamb, but on turning round, saw the lamb coming up the field towards him. The same evening he put some lambs in the shippen in front of some cows, putting them on some hay. Before going to bed he went to see that the lambs were all right. He was just hanging up his lamp, when something--he could not see what--rushed out past him. When he went to look at his lamb, he found a young otter lying with the lamb."

The account goes on to say that on the particular night in question, the local rivers were in flood. The above seems to point to the fact that the bitch otter had been flooded out of the drain, and had carried her cub to the shelter of the shippen. A photograph of the lamb and the otter cub was reproduced in conjunction with the above letterpress.

Otter cubs, like young foxes, are born blind. Fox cubs remain so for a period of about three weeks, and it is probable that a similar length of time, or perhaps rather more, elapses ere young otters can see. In the _Field_ of November 26th, 1921, there is an account of an otter cub whose mother was inadvertently killed by hounds. This cub was rescued and brought up by hand. When taken from the holt its age was estimated at fourteen days. Sixteen days later the cub opened its eyes, thus a period of thirty days elapsed from the time of its birth until it could see. At the end of the thirty days the cub weighed 14 ounces. It was at first fed on milk and water, but became very thin on this diet, so a change was made to "Mellins" as mixed for a new-born child. On this the cub thrived, its weight on October 11th being just under 2 lb. It was taken from the holt on August 20th. Had this cub been fed in the ordinary way by its mother it would possibly have opened its eyes at a rather earlier date, as it would have escaped the set-back caused by an unsuitable diet. The eyes of the adult otter are very dark coloured, but those of a cub are at first much lighter, not unlike the eyes of a young fox cub.

When the cubs are able to travel, the bitch otter leads them down from the head-waters to the larger streams. The cubs remain with their mother for some considerable time, as witness the constant occurrence of cubs of from 10 lb. to 12 lb. being put down in company with the bitch. They consort with their mother until she goes off to rear another family, when they are then left to fend for themselves. From this it is apparent that the otter has but one litter per year.

There is a great deal yet to be learnt about the otter, for, being more or less a creature of the night, and elusive in its movements, it is extremely difficult to study systematically. Otter cubs, although somewhat delicate, are not difficult to hand-rear, and make very interesting and tractable pets. If healthy to start with, cows' milk diluted with water is at first a satisfactory diet. Both cubs and adult otters are of course easy enough to study in captivity, but like many other creatures confined under similar conditions, they soon exhibit certain abnormal tastes and habits, and therefore afford little or no real clue to their behaviour in their natural habitat. At the Zoological Gardens in London, the otters will eat almost anything thrown to them by visitors.

The bitch otter shows great affection for her young, and will hang about in their vicinity in the face of hounds or human intruders. If a bitch with cubs is killed, the cubs, if well grown, will search the vicinity for their parent, the same applying to one of a pair which has been caught in a trap, its mate remaining near it all night in an attempt to get it away. On these occasions the otters make a considerable noise, blowing and snorting in their agitation. On one occasion some years ago, a brother of ours found three small otter cubs on a Yorkshire beck, which he eventually captured. The bitch otter remained close at hand, making a great fuss, regardless of any possible danger to herself. The cubs were carried home, a distance of a mile or more, but were returned within a short time to the pool where they were found. The bitch otter again made her appearance, and eventually went off with her restored family.

Otters, being great nomads, wander long distances up and down our rivers, frequently crossing high watersheds, and travelling far across country. Having no fixed abode like the fox, the otter inhabits temporary retreats or holts during the course of his journeyings. Most of these holts have been used by generations of otters, and many a drain or other shelter long forgotten by the people of the neighbourhood is still regularly inhabited by _Lutra_ and his kind. A holt may consist of a tree-root on the river-bank, a dry drain, or a wet one containing a dry lying place, a stick-heap near the stream, or situated in a plantation at some distance from the water. On the rocky rivers of the North, many of the holts consist of piled-up boulders on the hill-side, most of which are at some distance from the nearest beck or tarn. These rock-holts, many of which lie at a high altitude, are occupied by otters when crossing from stream to stream over a watershed. In summer, otters frequently "lie rough," or in other words spend the day above ground. Near a lake or tarn an otter will often curl up in the rushes or long grass at the water's edge. If disturbed he will then slide quietly into the pool, and unless hunted by hounds, will not show himself again. Sometimes he will lie on a bank or in a hedge close to the mouth of a drain, the latter serving him as a safe retreat when danger threatens. In fact, during the warm weather, otters are found lying rough in all sorts of unexpected places, often to the great surprise of those who fondly imagine that the animals never leave the vicinity of water.

Certain tree-roots and also rock-holts have their entrances under water. In some of them there cannot be any great amount of ventilation. An otter cannot live without air, yet presumably it can exist with less than most creatures. Otter cubs are sometimes laid down in holts of the above nature, where there is no ventilation shaft, and we have heard the theory expressed that under such conditions practically all the fresh air that the cubs get is carried in to them in their mother's coat. In our experience, however, even though a holt has an underwater entrance, there are usually plenty of air passages coming down from above, at any rate, sufficient to supply a more than adequate amount of fresh air for breathing purposes. The advantage of an underwater entrance to an otter lies in the fact that he can get in and out without showing himself, and once inside he may be "out of mark," or in other words, his scent is not carried to the outer air, so that if hounds come along they cannot wind him in his retreat.

After his night's peregrinations, an otter will return to his holt, but prior to settling down in his chosen retreat, he often visits one or two other tree-roots on the river-bank. Hounds sometimes mark at these places, only to find that their otter has gone on.

Along the sea coast, otters inhabit the water-worn caves and other retreats about the cliffs. Wherever there is an open boathouse on lake or river, otters are pretty sure to resort to it. We have examined many such places, and almost invariably found otter coke lying about on the planking, and sometimes actually in a boat or boats. In bad weather a boathouse affords a dry lying spot, and no doubt this is why otters visit it.

In order to thoroughly realise the wanderings and often long cross-country journeys undertaken by otters, one must track them in the snow. On one occasion such a trail led us for a good ten miles overland, the otter having left a stream, and made his way uphill via a small runner. The latter petered out in the open ground, but the trail led on in the direction of a frozen reservoir. Round this the otter had gone, then he followed the stream from the outlet for some distance, after which he turned straight across country. Three or four big stone walls had then intervened, but the otter--which had probably been over the same route before--made straight to certain smoots, and passed through with no unnecessary searching for a way out. He then visited a small lake, also frozen, and again took to the outlet stream, down which he went until he arrived at the main river. It must have been a pretty hard trip for so short-legged an animal, for the otter left a furrow in the snow which was quite deep. From the point where he left the stream where we picked up his tracks, to the spot where the trail entered the main river in the next dale across the watershed, the otter had not stopped once, but had kept toddling on. In the Lake District, otters regularly travel the passes over the hills, visiting the mountain tarns, and going from one dale to another.

Otters are playful beasts, a favourite game of theirs being sliding. They choose a steep clay bank, or a smooth snow slope, and toboggan down it on their stomachs with evident enjoyment. Although one seldom sees these slides in this country, they are very common in Canada where we have often come across them. During the cold weather of a Canadian winter, otters spend a good deal of their time beneath the ice, being able to breathe at the air-spaces round the shore. These air-spaces are left when the water lowers after the ice is formed.

Concerning the otter's feeding habits, there appears to be a good deal of misconception. Some people imagine that the otter exists entirely on fish, and for this reason should be done to death as a river-poacher at every opportunity. We have in the previous chapter compared the teeth of the otter and the seal, the latter animal swallowing its food whole, while the former masticates its food. Seals live upon fish, but it must be remembered that the otter belongs to the marten family, and, though well adapted to lead an aquatic existence, it still retains some of the marten's hunting instincts, and its teeth are suited to seizing and holding both furred and feathered prey. The pine marten, stoat, and weasel will all eat trout greedily when they can get it, so it is only natural that the otter, their relation, well equipped for swimming and water work, should show the same taste. As a matter of fact he _does_ exhibit the same taste as his smaller relatives, and to a much greater degree, but he is also glad to vary his diet and add both flesh and fowl to the menu.

The uninitiated, whose knowledge of otters has been gained by visits to the Zoological Gardens, while realising the swimming ability of the animals, look upon them as clumsy beasts on land, and ill-adapted to lead an active existence on terra firma. In an article comparing the badger and the otter, it says, "The otter, on the other hand, though an expert swimmer, is on land nearly as clumsy as his cousin the badger." The author of the said article can have done little or no otter-hunting, for if he had, he would never have made such a foolish statement. Despite his webbed feet, the otter is built like the weasels, and exhibits a great deal of their activity and quickness on land. For this reason he is well able to cope with furred and feathered quarry.

Beginning the otter's menu with fish, we find he eats salmon, sea trout, trout, and coarse fish. On the west of Scotland and in the Hebrides, otters live a good deal on the coast, but in the autumn they follow the salmon up the streams. Where salmon are plentiful and easily secured, otters kill a fish, take it ashore, and eat a portion of the shoulder only. In the old days in the Highlands, when otters were more numerous than they are at present, the crofters used regularly to visit the otters' landing places, in order to gather the salmon left there. The marks on such fish were known as the "otter's bite." In that delightful book, "Wild Sports of the Highlands" by Charles St John, the author refers to the above practice as follows: "I was rather amused at an old woman living at Sluie, on the Findhorn, who, complaining of the hardness of the present times, when 'a puir body couldna' get a drop smuggled whisky, or shot a rae without his lordship's sportsman finding it out,' added to her list of grievances that even the otters were nearly all gone, 'puir beasties.' 'Well, but what good could the otters do you?' I asked her. 'Good, your honour? Why scarcely a morn came but they left a bonny grilse on the scarp down yonder, and the _vennison_ was none the waur of the bit, the puir beasts eat themselves.' The people here call every eatable animal, fish, flesh, or fowl, venison, or as they pronounce it 'vennison.' For instance they tell you that the snipes are 'good vennison,' or that the trout are not good 'vennison' in the winter."

Although an otter is a capable swimmer, he cannot travel half as fast as a salmon under water. In low water a single otter can tire out or corner a salmon in a pool, but evidence leads us to believe that otters often work together, one driving the salmon about, while the other keeps watch on the shallows. On all rivers there are places where fish can be more or less cornered when the water is at normal level, and of course when it is very low in time of drought, salmon and other fish are practically pool-bound, and thus fall victims to otters and other predaceous creatures. It is pretty safe to say that an otter--like a pike, or a cannibal trout--will go for any fish which appears to be weak or in difficulty. A spinning lure--such as a spoon that wobbles instead of turning truly--is often far more attractive than one that spins "like a streak of silver."

In the _Field_ of June 5th, 1920, there is an account of an otter attacking a hooked salmon. The writer of the account says, "While I was playing a salmon on the Teify on Friday, May 21st, an otter made two attempts to get at him, and very nearly succeeded once. This seems so unusual to me that it would be of great interest if others have had a similar experience. This incident took place about eight in the evening, and in a pool where there was only an opening of a few feet where one could gaff the fish owing to trees. The trees undoubtedly accounted for the otter failing to see me, but as soon as he raised his head above water in midstream and saw that there were others as well as himself after that fish he soon cleared off, and the fish was successfully landed. The wild rushes made by the salmon after the otter's first attempt were extraordinary, as the fish was about done and fit for gaffing. To me this was a clear proof of the instinctive fear and wonderful vitality in a fish when his natural enemy appeared."

Other instances of a similar nature have been recorded from time to time, in some of which the otter has succeeded in taking the hooked fish. There is no doubt that an otter or otters frighten fish, particularly salmon, when chasing them about a pool. The instinct of all wild animals is to attack a weakly or wounded creature, even if belonging to their own kind, and the otter which goes for a hooked salmon does so because he knows he stands a better chance of catching it than other fish in the same pool which are free and untrammelled.

The otter must, therefore, do considerable good by ridding the streams of weak and sickly fish. An otter deals with large sea trout as it does with salmon, but in the case of trout it frequently eats them entire, leaving nothing to waste. When devouring fish an otter eats like a cat, with half-closed eyes. In the case of coarse fish, the otter often discards the head and tail, and in the same way with an eel, the head may be left. Those who decry the otter as a fish-poacher should remember that the animal does not confine his attentions solely to one pool or to one species of diet during his nightly wanderings. He may fish and otherwise feed up-stream for some miles, taking a trout here, an eel there, and perhaps a young rabbit somewhere else.

We have already seen that the otter must do good by killing sickly or wounded salmon, and in the same way with trout, he captures many an old cannibal fish which is far better out of the water. These old trout not only prey on their own smaller relations, but are great devourers of fish spawn, and the same applies, only in a much greater degree, to eels, which are the worst vermin in or about a river or lake. Many coarse fish, too, are inimical to spawn and young fry, therefore the otter does far more good than harm by feeding on them. Eels and frogs, the latter being skinned by an otter, are the first quarry that the bitch otter teaches her cubs to hunt. These are sought for on land and in the wet ditches and shallow runners. Later, the cubs are initiated in the art of fishing.

When first introduced to water, the cubs show considerable reluctance to swim. This can hardly be because they are unable to do so, but rather owing to a youthful aversion--as in the case of a puppy--to entering a strange element for the first time. The bitch therefore takes them to a stone in midstream, and either pushes them in, or leaves them there until they are at last tempted to enter the water and follow her. On the sea coast otters spend a good deal of time searching for flounders in the shallow pools. They also eat crabs, lobsters, sea anemones, and various crustaceans. Otters sometimes visit the lobster fishers' creels, and there are instances on record of partially grown otters having been found drowned in the creels. On inland lakes and streams otters feed on fresh-water mussels and cray-fish.

As previously mentioned, it is no uncommon thing to find the remains of fur and feather in otter coke. Otters capture waterhens and dabchicks, although we are of the opinion that they prefer other food if they can get it. At any rate we are familiar with a certain reed-fringed pond on the hills, where a bitch otter and two cubs of about 12 lb. weight resided for some months. This pond was also occupied by quite a number of waterhens, yet there were no apparent remains of these birds to be found in the vicinity, which pointed to the fact that the otters left them pretty much alone.

A rather curious thing happened when we visited the pond with hounds. At first the waterhens were much in evidence, but after hounds had been at work for an hour or two, we began to find dead waterhens lying about. These were not killed by hounds, but were drowned, and had practically--as far as we could see--committed suicide. To escape danger a waterhen will keep diving, and the birds under discussion had evidently--owing to the continual presence of hounds--done so until they were tired out, and subsequently perished under water. What made their behaviour stranger still was the fact that there was a small covert adjoining the pond, in which the birds could have found sanctuary on terra firma until all danger was past.

Both dabchicks and waterhens devour fish spawn, so otters do good by thinning out the ranks of these birds. At times otters will take game-birds, and there are authentic records of grouse, pheasants, and duck having been killed by them. One or two instances of this will suffice. In "The Natural History of Sport in Scotland," by Tom Speedy, the latter says: "That he can scent and pounce upon his prey like a fox was demonstrated by following his tracks among snow up Corrie Macshee Burn at Dalnaspidal. The trail left the water-side and showed where the animal had made a bound and caught a grouse in its roosting-place among the snow. Returning to the stream, he had crossed on to a boulder in the centre of the burn, where he devoured part of his prey." The same author mentions a case of an otter on the Biel estate in East Lothian, which dragged a foster-mother hen out of a coop and partly devoured it, as well as a number of young pheasants big enough to sit out amongst the grass. Traps were set, baited with the dead bodies of the birds, and a large otter was secured; the massacre then ceased.

In _The Gamekeeper_ for August, 1913, there is a note concerning the deaths of fifteen sitting pheasants in a covert beside a river. Each bird had a hole gnawed down through the back, the carcasses being left lying near the nests, not an egg having been touched. A duck caught on her nest is treated in the same way by an otter. In _The Gamekeeper_ for June, 1919, there is a note concerning an otter which was caught in a tunnel-trap baited with rabbit paunch. The trap was set in the middle of a one hundred acre wood. The otter was a cub, weighing 9½ lb.

Waterhens and dabchicks, particularly the latter, when taken by otters, are pulled under the water, though they may be captured amongst the reeds and other undergrowth as well. Ducklings sometimes fall victims to the otter, though as a rule big pike do the greatest harm in this direction. Pike have been known to take pheasants as well as duck which had fallen into a lake during the course of a shoot. From available evidence, otters on a stream containing trout and coarse fish seem to prefer the latter. Possibly they are easier to capture than trout. On hill-streams, where the fish are small but very numerous owing to shortage of food, otters must do a great deal of good by reducing the stock.

As far as furred prey is concerned, otters will kill and eat rats, water-voles, and young rabbits. We have on several occasions seen where a small bunny had been caught by an otter. On marshes where duck shooting is carried on, otters find and feed on wounded duck, exactly as do foxes. Here again they do good by acting as scavengers, as well as by putting winged birds out of their misery. Rabbits appear to be the largest four-footed creatures preyed upon by otters, but we have heard it suggested by an old Lakeland dalesman that they will on occasion take lambs. Although we bring forward this suggestion with great diffidence, it is quite possible that there is some truth in it. Our informant lived by the shore of a lake in an out-of-the-way part of the country, where at one time pine-martens were very plentiful. It is a well-known fact that martens will kill lambs, and an otter, which is a much more powerful animal, could easily do the same if so inclined. Anyway, the old dalesman more than once found the carcass of a lamb left close to the edge of the water on the lake shore, with the tracks of otters round about it. Neither a hill-fox nor marten would be likely to drag or carry the carcass to water, and the whole thing certainly pointed to the work of otters.

An otter is a predaceous animal of the weasel family, strong, and active in its habits, and would experience no difficulty in tackling a lamb. It is never safe to be dogmatic in one's statements concerning the habits of wild creatures, because generally speaking, the only regular thing about them is their variability. Cases have occurred where otters were responsible for killing ducks, grouse, pheasants, and rabbits, and though such behaviour is only occasional on the part of the average otter, it shows what he will do when so inclined.

In winter otters are sometimes hard put to it to find food, and they have been known to take poultry at such times. In the same way regarding the dalesman's statement about lambs, an otter _may_ occasionally kill one, although most people would laugh at such an idea. We know that hill-foxes take lambs, having scores of times found carcasses in and about the earths, yet one meets hunting people who resolutely refuse to believe that Reynard ever falls so far from grace as to feed on lamb. A fox will eat trout when he can get it, and so will many dogs. We have one now which eats small trout as greedily as a cat, and no doubt foxes secure many fish when the hill-streams are dead low in summer. It is no more strange for a fox or a dog to eat fish than for an otter to take an occasional lamb. All three are carnivorous--the otter being least so--and when all is said and done, wild animals show very unusual traits at times.

Summing up the otter's feeding habits, we find he kills fish, and in the case of salmon he is certainly wasteful. To set against this he takes many a sickly fish, as well as cannibal trout, all of which are better out of the way. He kills waterhens and dabchicks, both devourers of fish spawn, and he slays quantities of eels, which are the worst vermin to be found in lake or stream. Game is only an occasional item on his menu, and nobody grudges him a few young rabbits.

Otters, therefore, if kept within reasonable limits, do their share of good, and, like the fox, provide the very best of sport when hunted. When Reynard is rolled over by hounds it is the debt he pays for the privileged existence of himself and his kind, and the same thing applies to the otter. Given a good pack of hounds, hunting their district properly, otters will be kept sufficiently in check, and good sport will be enjoyed by riparian owners and others.

The only occasion on which an otter can do really extensive damage is when he gets access to a trout hatchery. Once he finds his way to the breeding ponds he will kill fish right and left. If, however, such places are properly fenced off--as they should be--they will never suffer from the attentions of otters. Swans and other wildfowl, herons, dabchicks, waterhens, kingfishers, frogs, cannibal trout, and eels do far more damage to fish and fish spawn than otters, and with the exception of certain wildfowl, provide no sport in return. The otter, like the fly-fisherman, is a sportsman, and for this reason the one should deal leniently with the other.

Otters do most of their feeding and travelling at night, but it is not an uncommon occurrence to find them abroad in daytime. In Canada we have on several occasions seen them on the ice during the day, and once while watching a deer runway near a river, a big otter floated downstream within twenty yards of us. Having fed up-stream during the night, an otter may take to some holt at the end of his journey, or he may float down with the current--if the water is fairly deep--and return to the holt from which he started. Although an otter can make wonderful headway against a strong current, he generally avoids rapids and rough water when travelling up-stream. On coming to such a place he lands, makes a detour, and enters the water again higher up. His feeding expeditions are not necessarily restricted to the main river, for he often explores side-streams, ditches, and other places, which lie at a considerable distance from deep water. He usually leaves his holt--or couch if he is lying rough--about dusk, and returns to it before daybreak. For the most part otters are silent creatures, but they whistle when calling to each other, and will snort and blow when playing together. In Canada their playgrounds are the "slides," and there two otters will gambol like puppies between the intervals of tobogganing down the bank.

Although an otter does not dig to any extent, he will, as already mentioned, scratch up sand or soft earth for a certain purpose, and his feet and claws aid him in securing crustaceans and other food. Although the otter is unable to climb like the marten, he can on occasion jump and scramble over high places in a wonderful manner. In the North, otters regularly travel deep ghylls and watercourses where they are obliged to climb to some extent, and when hard pressed by hounds it takes a very rough place indeed to stop an otter. In big coverts an otter will stand up before hounds like a fox, and will travel at a surprising pace.

On rough, rocky rivers, an otter's claws, particularly those on the hind feet, are often very much worn down. This may be accounted for by the state of the going. A mounted specimen now in our possession has the claws of the hind feet practically worn off, whereas the nails on the forefeet are nearly perfect.

There are probably few waters in Great Britain which are not at some time or other haunted by otters. Even in the vicinity of towns the marks of otters may be found beside canals and streams, the surroundings of which would appear to be anything but attractive to _Lutra_. Being chiefly a creature of the night, nomadic and elusive in its habits, the otter often spends a peaceful existence in the vicinity of human habitations, the occupants of which never dream that the "sly, goose-footed prowler" is a frequent visitor to their water. The majority of people have never seen an otter, except under a glass case in some museum, or within the confines of the Zoological Gardens. The angler, fishing at dusk, may sometimes be favoured by a glimpse of an otter, bent on the same errand as himself, but as a rule few otters are seen except when put down by hounds.